Chapter Text
Luffy didn’t know how much time he spent laying on the floor staring at the cracked ceiling of his new room. He had long since gotten bored of counting things around the new apartment, and he knew that Sabo was too busy to do anything with him, since he’d been the one to suggest that Luffy count things in the first place. So he had come up to his new room to unpack his stuff.
Somehow, he got stuck laying on the floor. Staring at the ceiling. Thinking about nothing. Looking at nothing.
Wasting time.
…
Figuring he should probably do something, he slowly sat up and made his way over to the many boxes he had to unpack.
The first box he opened had his clothes. He threw them into his new dresser without much thought as to what should go where. He caught a glint of gold metal in the bottom of the box as he put away more and more clothes.
His locket! So that was where it went!
He hurried to snatch it up and put it on around his neck.
Luffy held the locket in his hands and inspected it for damage. There were no new scratches or dents, and it seemed to have survived the trip unscathed. Perhaps it had been protected by the clothes.
He had been so distraught when he couldn’t find it after packing all of his things. It was special! It had their initials, A.S.L., engraved in the back and it had been a gift from Ace.
Sabo had assured him that it would be fine, saying that it was probably just packed away somewhere. “You were wearing it just last week after all,” he had added.
Luffy tucked the locket into his shirt, feeling the cool metal against his skin for a second and continued on.
The second box had more clothes that were promptly added into the mess of his dresser.
The third he opened had all the things his friends had put together and given him before he’d left. Luffy paused at the sight of it all.
He forced his hands to start picking out each item carefully.
A bunch of tangerines from Nami that she’d picked from her family’s grove. He’d have to eat them before they went bad.
A toy robot from Usopp that he’d made himself. It came with a remote to control it.
A first aid kit that Chopper had put together with easy to understand instructions for every item in it.
The recipes for all of Luffy’s favorite meals from the Baratie that Sanji had written down.
The green gorilla plush that he and Zoro had won from a claw machine when they’d ditched school together for the first time. It belonged to both of them, but Zoro had insisted that he take it.
The rest of the box was filled with a few small trinkets and sealed letters from nearly everybody else he knew. He dug through the letters searching for anything that may have been hiding beneath them when he felt something soft. He pushed the letters aside with both hands to find a button-eyed rag doll laying at the bottom of the box.
“...what?”
He pulled it out to look at it closer.
It looked just like him. Choppy black yarn hair, a stitched on scar beneath its eye, a miniature version of his straw hat. He could even see a burn scar on the doll’s chest (mirroring the one he himself had) peeking out from beneath its loose t-shirt.
Luffy didn’t remember getting a present like it from anybody before he left. Perhaps Perona had slipped it in at the last minute? She had a thing for weird dolls. Maybe she had made it for him.
“Cool,” he muttered. He held the doll under his arm as he shuffled over to the next box.
The fourth box he opened was small and full of bubble wrapped items. He unwrapped one and found it to be a framed picture of a younger him in Rouge’s arms. So this box had all his picture frames!
He smiled at the picture. “This was taken on my first day of school!” He explained and showed the picture to the doll. He had hardly talked to anyone all day, and he couldn’t talk to Sabo (he was too busy with college stuff), so the doll would have to do. “I kept moving around cuz I was so excited that Sabo couldn’t get the picture. He took this just as Rouge was carrying me out the door! ” He laughed a bit at the memory. “School turned out to be pretty boring though.” He put the frame aside and picked out the next one. It turned out to be the group picture that he, Zoro, Nami, Usopp, Sanji, and Chopper had all taken at that pirate themed carnival that they’d visited one summer.
Luffy’s mood soured as he looked at it. “...I don’t get why we even had to move,” he said to the doll. “I know that the apartment burned, but why did we have to move so far away?” He didn’t even have a phone! How was he supposed to talk to any of them now?!
Luffy wiped at the forming tears in the corners of his eyes. No. He wouldn’t cry. He wouldn’t. He was done crying.
He grabbed the tangerines and the recipes and carried them both (as well as the doll under his arm) to the kitchen.
He could unpack more later.
—————
Somehow, he managed to lose the doll in the short time it took him to get to the kitchen and put away the tangerines and recipes.
“Little me?” he called out, as if the doll could answer him. “Where’d you go?”
“Luffy?” came Sabo’s voice from further in the apartment. “Who’re you talking to?”
“The doll Perona gave me,” he yelled back as he started looking in the living room. He didn’t go to the living room on his way to the kitchen, but he couldn’t find it in the kitchen at all.
He looked under the table and behind the boxes closest to it. He could hear Sabo’s footsteps coming closer.
“Perona gave you a doll?” Sabo asked as he entered the living room.
“Yeah, it looks just like me,” he said offhandedly. He spotted the doll behind a box leaning against the wall. “There you are!” He picked the doll up by the body before noticing something interesting in the wall. He moved the box aside.
There was an imprint of a small door in the wall.
Luffy felt strangely entranced by it.
He was startled out of it when Sabo kneeled next to him.
“That’s certainly strange,” he observed, seeming just as curious as Luffy. “I don’t think this was in the floorplan.”
“Wonder what’s behind it.”
“Probably need a key to open it.” Sabo ran a thumb over the keyhole. “Wait here I’ll go look for it.”
Soon enough, Sabo came back with a black key that had a distinctly button shaped base. He used it to tear through the wall paper covering the door’s edges. Luffy leaned forward on his hands.
Sabo stuck the key in.
He opened it to reveal…bricks.
“Boo,” Luffy groaned.
“That is pretty disappointing,” Sabo agreed with a sigh. “Onto another topic,” he turned towards Luffy, “Is that the doll you were talking about?” He gestured at the doll with his head.
“Yeah I found it in one of my boxes,” he held it up and Sabo took it from him to get a better look. “I think Perona made it and snuck it in last minute.”
“That sounds like something she’d do.” Sabo handed it back to him. “It’s certainly creepy enough to be something she made.”
He suddenly startled a bit, as if he only just realized what he was doing, and stood. “And I’ve gotta get back to my homework,” he said before quickly leaving the room.
“Good luck!” Luffy called after him. He turned to the door and closed it with one last disappointed sigh. He’d just have to find adventure somewhere else.
—————
Luffy pushed open the door to the study to find Sabo surrounded by unpacked boxes, typing away at his laptop, scribbling in a notebook, and mumbling to himself. His shoulders were hunched and his posture rigid.
He hadn’t even looked up when Luffy opened the door.
Sabo was busy.
…
Luffy shouldn’t bother him anymore.
He left the study quietly.
He quickly searched through the boxes in his room and found his raincoat. It had rained earlier on their drive up, and he figured he that he might need it. He slipped the raincoat on, put the doll in one of its big pockets, and headed out the front door.
If there was one good thing about moving out here it was the expansive forest and other nature surrounding the place. It was much better than the puny backyard they’d had back in the city!
He couldn’t wait explore every inch of it!!
—————
Of all the things Luffy had been hoping and expecting to find, a covered hole in the ground in a mushroom circle was not one of them.
He cleared the mud off of the wooden plane and knocked on it. The sound echoed. Luffy dug his fingers beneath the panel and shifted it aside to reveal the tunnel leading into the pitch black void waiting beneath.
“Woah,” he gasped out in awe, the sound echoing down into the hole. He laughed and leaned further forward and yelled out “Cool!”
Cool! it echoed back at him.
Luffy laughed again and quickly looked for something to drop in it. He grabbed a small rock and dropped it in the hole.
He waited and waited and…
Heard it make a splash when it hit the bottom.
So it wasn’t just a random hole, it was a well! A super super deep well!
“Neat!”
A distant crash of thunder, and suddenly it was raining. Luffy pulled his hood up and started making his way back towards the house. He supposed that was enough exploring for one day. He hadn’t said anything to Sabo after all, and he didn’t wanna make him worry by being gone too long.
—————
Dinner was a frozen meal again. Sabo was too tired from the move and his work to properly cook anything.
Luffy understood and honestly didn’t mind. He liked frozen food!
“I promise I’ll start actually cooking again once we’re settled in,” Sabo assured him as they ate.
”Okay.”
“So…what else did you do today?” A teasing smile came on his face. “I can’t imagine you counted things all day!”
Luffy grimaced a bit. “Yeah that got boring fast,” he said bluntly. “So I unpacked some stuff in my room, and I found my locket!” he informed cheerily. “It got mixed in with my clothes.”
Sabo smiled warmly at him. “What’d I tell ya?”
“Then I went outside to explore.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?”
“...You were busy and I didn’t wanna bother you again.”
Sabo almost looked hurt by what he said. “You’re never a bother Luffy,” he sighed fondly. “Were you careful at least?”
Luffy nodded. “I took my raincoat with me and didn’t stay out too long!”
“That’s good! What did you find?”
Luffy lit up at the question. “There's this super deep well! You can’t even see the water at the bottom!!”
“I think the landlady mentioned something about it. Apparently if you fell inside and looked up, you’d see a sky full of stars in the middle of the day,” he said, talking like he did whenever he told scary stories. “Assuming you survived the fall of course,” he added with a shrug.
“A fall that high would kill ya for sure!”
“Oh for sure.”
“Hey, can we go beetle hunting tomorrow? I wanna see what kinds there are here!” It had been forever since they’d gone.
“I really want to Luffy, but…” Sabo responded hesitantly.
The words lanced through his good mood, but it was okay. “You have to work tomorrow?” He was used to it.
Sabo nodded. “Yeah. I really am sorry–”
“It’s fine.”
He was fine.
What was left of dinner was spent in silence, the doll watching them both.
—————
Luffy leapt down to the base of the stairs and clapped his hands together, the mouse he was chasing darting away just in time and the blanket he was wearing around his shoulders falling to the floor. The jump had hurt his ankles, yet he still chased after the mouse.
He followed it to the living room where it forced its way behind the door.
Aha! It trapped itself!
Luffy opened the door, expecting nothing but bricks.
Instead, a breeze hit his face. The mouse ran down a tunnel (not unlike the well he’d found earlier in the day) as it expanded before him, soft, colorful, and cool lights enticing him inside.
Luffy crawled forward in awe.
I must be dreaming, he thought to himself.
—————
Lately, most of Luffy’s dreams had been about fire and smoke and his chest burning.
Some nights though, he’d dream about someone dead. Those were always good dreams.
Tonight, apparently, he was dreaming about Rouge. It had been a while since he’d dreamt of her.
She was standing in the kitchen with her back to him and preparing something in a tray. She looked just like he remembered her. The long light blue dress that swayed a bit with every move she made. Her flowing blond hair and the hibiscus flower she always wore in it. Most of all her voice, humming as she worked.
“Oh!” She finally noticed him hovering in the doorway, and turned to face him. “You’re just in time, Luffy!”
Luffy startled. In place of her eyes were two shiny black buttons.
“I was just about to put this in the oven!” With a cheery smile she grabbed the tray (that was revealed to have a beautifully prepared turkey on it) and stuck it in the oven.
“...Why do you have button eyes?” he couldn’t help but ask.
‘Rouge’ laughed at his question. “Why, I’m your Other Mother dear!”
“Other Mother?”
“Yes!”
“...what’s that?”
“I’ll explain more when we eat!” she assured him. “Now why don’t you go grab your Other Brother for some beetle hunting!”
“Other Brother?”
“Go on,” she gestured for him to leave, “He’s in the study.”
“Okay…” Luffy nodded, still rather unsure, and left the kitchen.
Other Brother, he repeated in his head as he made his way to the study. Could she mean…?
He pushed open the door.
Inside the study sat Sabo (or at least a Sabo lookalike), pressing seemingly random keys on an impressive and elaborate organ-like instrument. From what Luffy could see he was wearing a vibrant blue suit with a matching top hat and goggles. He had black gloves that went to his elbows and black boots that went to his knees. The whole outfit felt rather whimsical.
“Hello?” Luffy called.
The Sabo lookalike turned around, revealing that he too had button eyes. “Why hello, Luffy!” His face almost looked younger.
He doesn’t have a scar.
Luffy smiled a bit at his enthusiasm, dismissing the thought. “Other Rouge said we should go beetle hunting,” he informed Other Sabo. “Can we?” He couldn’t help but get excited at the thought. It’d been so long since he and Sabo had done that together!
Other Sabo stood up with a smile. “You bet! Lead the way, Luffy!”
Luffy giggled and practically ran all the way to the garden outside the house. This was gonna be so much fun!
—————
In the end Luffy had ended up finding several hercules beetles and was practically shining with excitement. Him and Other Sabo had just been about to have them fight when Other Rouge called them in for dinner.
This is the greatest dream that I’ve had in a while! Luffy decided as he happily tore into the banquet set before him. The turkey was perfect, and she had made practically every side he could think of! The chandelier could dispense milkshakes!
As he ate and drank, Other Rouge set a cake in front of him with ‘Welcome Home!’ written on it in a bright red frosting. Luffy wasn’t sure how he felt about that.
“So what are you guys?” he asked through a mouthful of food. “And what do you mean by ‘home?’”
“Careful Luffy, you don’t wanna choke,” Other Sabo chided with a smile.
Luffy swallowed and stuck his tongue out at Sabo (who childishly returned the gesture) before turning back to Other Rouge.
“We’re your Other Family, Luffy, and we’ve been waiting a long time for you,” she said.
“Other Family?”
“Everyone’s got an Other Family waiting to be found,” she explained. “To be there for you. Your real family can’t always give you what you need after all.”Luffy supposed that made sense. Sabo had been so busy lately and they had just moved away from all of Luffy’s friends. He was pretty lonely.
It was fun getting to beetle hunt with Sabo again (even if it wasn’t really him), the food was great (it tasted just like the food from the Baratie), and Other Rouge was nice too, but if she was here and this was supposed to be his Other Family then…
“Where’s Ace?”
Both Other Rouge and Sabo looked like they’d been caught off guard.
“...Excuse me?” Other Rouge asked.
“I’m just wondering where Ace is,” Luffy explained. “He’s almost always in my good dreams, and if this is supposed to be my ‘Other Family,’ then where is he?”
Other Rouge was silent.
“He’ll be here tomorrow,” Other Sabo answered. “He just had some errands to attend to today.”
“Oh.” Luffy was a bit disappointed. “Okay then.” He continued to eat for a bit, Other Rouge and Sabo saying nothing as he did so.
Luffy yawned and stretched his arms after he finally finished eating.
“You should probably get to bed,” Other Rouge suggested.
Luffy nodded sleepily and let her and Other Sabo guide him up to his room.
—————
Luffy practically screeched in excitement as he entered his room.
Every wall was painted to look like the ocean with several pirate ships sailing off towards adventure.
A tangerine tree formed the headboard of his bed so he would be sleeping under its shade.
A small platoon of robots just like the one Usopp had made him all walked around his feet on their own, each one giving him a wave and a “Hello!” in a tinny robotic voice.
He heard a rustling from the tangerine tree and looked to find his green gorilla plush climbing in its branches. It too waved at him and he waved back.
“Hey!” he heard a familiar voice call out to him from the nightstand.
“Nami!” he called back as he rushed to the source of the voice.
On the nightstand sat a frame with the picture of all his friends at the pirate themed carnival. They all waved and greeted him loudly as soon as he was in sight.
“Guys!” Luffy yelled back. He snatched the frame up and spun around a bit with it. “How are you doing? I can’t wait to see you all again!”
“We’re already here Luffy!” Usopp said with a laugh.
Luffy must’ve been smiling too much throughout the night, his face was starting to hurt. He was about to respond when he cut himself off with a huge yawn.
“I think it’s time for someone to get to bed,” Other Rouge suggested.
Luffy nodded and climbed into the bed, his eyes already drifting closed. Other Sabo tucked him in with a kiss to the forehead.
“See you soon,” both he and Other Rouge said as he drifted off to sleep hugging the frame close to his chest.
—————
The Beldam frantically searched through Luffy’s clothes after he fell asleep, searching for anything that could give her a clue about this ‘Ace’ character.
Neither the child nor his brother had mentioned anything about someone named Ace in front of the doll, and he was apparently important enough for Luffy to notice his absence. Before sending him back she needed a reference for his appearance at least. She couldn’t rely on either of them to show anything to the doll.
She found that he was wearing a locket with the letters A.S.L carved into it. She forced it open. Inside were three pictures. One of Luffy, one of Sabo, and one of a black haired person the Beldam hadn’t seen before. She figured that that person must be Ace. Was he another brother?
It didn’t matter.
Having cataloged the appearance in her memory, she got to work. She didn’t have too much of a reference for his personality, but she could still put together something convincing enough. Hopefully she could pick up something more from the doll as Luffy kept carrying it around.
Regardless, her creation could just learn to act more like Ace as Luffy interacted with it.
—————
Luffy woke up the next morning to his new room with its cracked ceiling, his mostly unpacked belongings, and his ragdoll lookalike laying next to him. He grabbed the doll and looked into its button eyes, figuring that they and the weird key that went with the door were probably the source of his dream.
He hoped Ace was there next time, even if it wasn't real.